#SuzyPFW: Bringing Exotic Paul Poiret Back to Life

New South Korean owners task designer Yiqing Yin with reviving the dormant brand’s drapes and shapes

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The historic house of one of the first masters of French haute couture, Paul Poiret, has been revived for the 21st century

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A
misty blue light swirled along the tiled nave of the Musée des Arts
Décoratifs. It was the moment when Paul Poiret, a historic designer of
Orientalist clothes that swathed the body, was being coaxed back to
life.

Paul Poiret Autumn/Winter 2018

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This exotic figure, with his lavish lifestyle, who
reached his zenith in the early 20th century, is being resuscitated by
Yiqing Yin, a designer of Chinese origin who has been selected by the
brand’s new South Korean owner, Shinsegae.

Having eagerly collected the Gazette du Bon Ton
(1912-1925), with its delicate fashion drawings from Poiret’s Art Deco
period, I was fascinated to see how the original designer’s flamboyant
work, captured by the pens of Georges Barbier or Erté, might be
revitalised. Poiret’s fashion fame included ridding women of corsets in
1906. But I was also aware of a famous drawing from the 1920s, when
Poiret was running out of clients and money to stage his extravagant
parties. The cruel cartoon had Coco Chanel arriving as Poiret slinked
off the page.

Yiqing showed me how she had used the drape of fabrics
to match her 21st-century vision of a Poiret revival based on fluidity.
That meant that the clothes could be worn in different ways, with the
material creating varied shapes.

“There’s such an abundance of skills and generosity of
creation – and such a rich heritage with archives and stories,” said the
designer, who captured some of Poiret’s sumptuous grandeur with her
colours: hot pink, burnt umber, dusty blue, and patterns splashing black
on a rich red. By contrast, there were some geometric lines that looked
almost like piano keys.

Paul Poiret Autumn/Winter 2018

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Clothes for the modern world cannot be as lush as in
Poiret’s heyday. But Yiqing’s concept of ‘slipping and sliding’ the
clothes, especially at the shoulders, gives a hint of sensuality.

The thoughtful designer, who has previously given her
perfume of the East to the Léonard label, is now working with Anne
Chapelle, who manages the Haider Ackermann brand, among other labels.
But relaunching a forgotten name is a complex issue. Should Yiqing Yin
make the clothes seem more of the current moment? And is it wise to try
to reboot the Poiret concept of making fabric slip across the body?

Paul Poiret Autumn/Winter 2018

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Explaining the construction of one outfit, she said,
“This wrap coat is two separate pieces. The architecture comes from
different rectangles. The hunched back is very characteristic, and
basically I started from that major coat in Poiret’s history. I really
love grand flowers, so I mixed them in the painting. Then I made it into
a jacket and used the reverse side, with the raw elements, to show the
accidents and hesitation of the human hand.”

Paul Poiret Autumn/Winter 2018

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All those ideas were, of course, taken from haute
couture. When Poiret’s unique creations were worn by art lover Peggy
Guggenheim, she would have had clothes made to measure and to her taste.

Paul Poiret fitting a client during his tour of the United States in January 1900

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Turning this vision of the past into a collection for
Autumn/Winter 2018 was fairly convincing. Anyone looking for drape and
unusual colours could find something genuinely easy to wear. Even an
oversize black top pulled over a long pleated white skirt, splattered
with black, had an artistic glamour.

Paul Poiret Autumn/Winter 2018

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But where will Poiret go from here? Yiqing shared the
questions she asks herself. “What shall we keep? What is still relevant
today? What is relevant for tomorrow? What can be kept to be at the
service of women – because that’s what Poiret was: in the service of
women and the arts.”

An
illustration by Georges Lepape of an outfit designed by Paul Poiret for
his wife, Denise, to wear to a Persian-themed party, 1921

Private collection/Getty

“And what are the new languages to convey that,” she
continued, “and to pursue this message, push boundaries, hijack
different genres, challenge different conventions – because all that is
what Poiret did. Today, it’s not just about liberating the female form,
but also the female spirit and the mind. I want to propose a new
sensuality that is not in excess; that is conscious and paradoxical.”